The PhD program in “Public Law” originates from the consolidation of three distinguished doctoral programs: “Constitutional Law and General Public Law”, “Administrative Law”, and “Criminal Law and Procedure”. Its primary aim is to offer advanced academic education to young scholars dedicated to conducting innovative research across various fields of public law.
The program aims to deepen the understanding of key methodologies and foundational principles developed within the disciplines of constitutional law, public comparative law, administrative law, criminal law, criminal procedural law, international law, and European Union law. This is achieved through an interdisciplinary approach that integrates legal and economic perspectives, starting from the formation of national legal systems to their recent transformations influenced by supranational integration and globalization.
Special attention is devoted to the ongoing transformations in the role of public authorities and the interplay between public and private entities, prompted by significant economic and societal shifts, as well as the increasing interdependencies among national legal orders.
At the core of its educational objectives, the PhD program in “Public Law” places the rethinking of the systematic framework of public law – elaborated over a century of legal scholarship – in a context of profound transformations.
Beginning with the 37th cycle, the program introduced a dedicated curriculum in “Law and Economics”. Such an approach permeates research across all fields of interest. The integration of economic theory into legal analysis, drawing on the principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics, encourages the development of innovative solutions to legal challenges, including the design of transnational legal orders, institutional structures for states or societies, and the specificities of private transactions or implementation strategies. The areas of application range from
New Institutional Law and Economics to
ex ante and
ex post market regulation.
Aligned with the challenge set forth by the European Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030, the program increasingly emphasizes interdisciplinary research methods to address the strategic challenges posed by contemporary industrial policy objectives.
Currently, the PhD in Public Law is structured into five specialized curricula:
Constitutional Law, General Public Law and Public Comparative Law;
Administrative Law;
Criminal Law and Procedure;
Law and Economics;
International and European Union Law.
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, GENERAL PUBLIC LAW AND COMPARATIVE PUBLIC LAW.
This curriculum focuses on the classic topics of public law disciplines, throughout the outcomes of modern and contemporary legal sciences as developed over time by the contributions of the different law schools traditions, particularly since the second half of the last century.
These topics concern:
a. methodology, the study of public law and constitutional comparison;
b. legal systems (general, sectoral, state, supranational);
c. sources of law, both with regard to the legal system from which they derive and to the recipients to whom they refer;
d. fundamental rights and the instruments for guaranteeing them;
e. the system of autonomies, territorial decentralization and the dynamics of their functioning;
f. constitutional guarantees and systems of constitutional justice;
g. government structures, and the relations among State Institutions, local powers and European Union Institutions;
h. comparative approach, particularly while dealing with institutions and public law belonging to different legal systems, both in the synchronic and diachronic perspective, taking into account the complexity of legal experiences and constitutional cultures.
All these topics are analysed through their elaboration by the science of public law, along interdisciplinarity suggested by contemporary studies of constitutional, public and comparative law. Even more important, since the evolution of legal systems in the aftermath of WW2 has led to the juridification by written Constitutions of the principles inspiring the legal system.
The importance of the curriculum in Constitutional Law, General Public Law and Comparative Public Law is strongly appreciated in the contemporary historical phase of the constitutional state. This is indeed characterized by the evolution of the Nation-State, by the creation of supranational systems with functions and political powers which were once typical of States organizations, by the normativity of the fundamental rights as well as from the interactions among the many legal systems. All these phenomena are able to reshape, in a comparative and dogmatic perspective as well, subjects, institutions, powers and functions that all have had their history, conceptualization and theorization in constitutional and general public law.
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
The program aims, on the one hand, to analyse transformations in the organization and functioning of public administrations; on the other hand, it faces issues related to the extent of the rule of law and of judicial protection against acts of the administration, particularly concerning the role of judges in the construction of administrative law principles. As far as the first aim, the last thirty years have been characterized by many reforms that have deeply changed the organization and the functioning of the administration. Moreover, the evolution has been fastened by legal scholars’ work, and by administrative judge’s decisions, which introduced a set of new rules for the administration, overtaking traditional principles and models.
The Curriculum aims to train scholars in administrative law, in order to describe and guide their transformation with scientific and practical work. A theoretical and practical approach is provided, and specific attention to the concrete problems of the administration is granted.
The previous courses concerned public authority organization, administrative procedure, public servant accountability, administrative justice, public services, global public powers, administrative law of the EU, and European integration of administration.
The Ph.D. program has an important cultural heritage, as confirmed by the former students, who either became law scholars or public officers in the most important Italian public authority.
CRIMINIAL LAW AND PROCEDURE
The Ph. D. course in criminal law and procedure offers a didactic-formative experience especially focused on an interdisciplinary approach to criminal sciences that will prompt students to give wider scope to their studies, taking into account mutual interactions with and influences of kin disciplines such as penitentiary law, criminology, legal medicine and forensic psychology. The interdisciplinary prospective fosters a formative process which, though maintaining a scientific approach based on traditional dogmatic premises, encourages students to seek a deeper understanding of the ever more frequent connections among different juridical sciences and between the latter and other disciplines now widely used in forensic praxis, with particular attention to actual practice. In a word, the course pursues the methodological refinement and specialistic formation of young scholars capable of producing works of notable theoretical value yet susceptible of practical application.
The curriculum requires students to draft scientific papers of relatively limited scope (short articles, comments, notes on a sentence, bibliographical reviews) highlighting themes that upon further study will ultimately provide the basis for a comprehensive monographic treatise. This may open the way to higher didactic positions and functions in the academic world. In line with the inspiring principles of the course, the dissertation, whose subject should be one of notable dogmatic importance and in the field of criminal law (general, special or complementary) or of criminal procedure (general theory or special aspects) must reflect an original personal approach.
LAW AND ECONOMICS
The curriculum is designed to foster interdisciplinary research in legal and economic disciplines, with the objective of advancing the understanding of the rationale and impact of policy interventions, whether implemented through normative regulation or public policy initiatives. The Law & Economics program specifically examines the design of institutional frameworks and the challenges associated with the enforcement of legal norms. Within this context, law is conceptualized as a subject of inquiry characterized by a system of behavioral incentives and disincentives, which can be systematically analyzed using economic methodologies. This analysis may adopt either an ex-ante (theoretical) perspective, focusing on the anticipated effects of public interventions on legal actors’ decisions, or an ex-post (empirical or case study-based) approach, aimed at assessing the outcomes generated by public regulation or private agreements.
The program aspires to equip students with a robust understanding of economic theories, institutional configurations, and legal frameworks, encompassing historical and comparative dimensions. Emphasis is placed on the Italian legal system and its interaction with the economic, regulatory, and operational frameworks of the European Union. Selected contemporary issues will be explored as case studies to demonstrate practical applications of these theoretical foundations.
Doctoral candidates engage in advanced research on topics such as public policy (including occupational safety and inequality mitigation), human rights, market regulation, institutional design, and the deterrent efficacy of legal norms. A significant emphasis is given to environmental governance and sustainable development as central themes.
The research methodology is inherently interdisciplinary, enabling doctoral candidates to refine their analytical competencies and develop critical thinking skills necessary for examining social systems and contemporary challenges through the prism of economic analysis of law. This interdisciplinary foundation is intended to provide a comprehensive understanding of how legal frameworks can be strategically aligned with broader economic policy objectives.
In their doctoral dissertation, candidates are expected to employ an interdisciplinary approach that integrates economic and legal analysis, demonstrating a high degree of analytical rigor and contributing original insights to the field.
INTERNATIONAL AND EUROPEAN UNION LAW
The International and European Union Law curriculum intends to offer an advanced research training in the area of transnational legal phenomena and, in particular, in the field of international law and the law of European integration. PhD candidates are required to attain full command of techniques and methodologies in these two areas, and to apply them in their individual research, aimed at drafting and defending their doctoral thesis.
Teaching activities will mainly consist in seminars, workshops and other interactive activities, led by faculty members and by highly qualified experts, where students will have the opportunity to discuss contemporary topical issues of international and European law. They will also be required to present their view on selected topics in weekly meetings with the faculty in order to develop analytical and critical skills. These activities will be carried out in constant interaction with other curricula, so as to enhance the interdisciplinary character of the PhD program.
PhD students are requested to spend part of their three-year research term at prestigious foreign institutes, identified in agreement with the Teaching Body.